English - Support to Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal ...
English - Support to Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal ...
English - Support to Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal ...
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The Remake of a Stategiven for categoris<strong>in</strong>g households always <strong>in</strong>clude the obvious ones of foodsecurity (land ownership) and <strong>in</strong>come (a regular salary is highly favoured),but also take <strong>in</strong><strong>to</strong> account social and other fac<strong>to</strong>rs. Commonly quoted<strong>in</strong>dica<strong>to</strong>rs of well-be<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>clude good political connections outside thevillage (source force); all family members <strong>in</strong> a good health; the affordability<strong>to</strong> all children’s education; the ability <strong>to</strong> lend money; and (<strong>in</strong> some cases)own<strong>in</strong>g a household <strong>to</strong>ilet 7 . For the bipanna, handicap or long-termillness, old age and debt are usually mentioned, but the most commonfac<strong>to</strong>r is social isolation – someth<strong>in</strong>g strongly abhorred <strong>in</strong> <strong>Nepal</strong>i culture,and worsened by the absence of State-provided social protection (see theexample of Manomaya Majhi, Box 4.1).Box 4.1 Manomaya Majhi: An identified bipanna suffer<strong>in</strong>g from social isolationThe Majhis are a low caste hill group who traditionally ga<strong>in</strong> their livelihoods from fish<strong>in</strong>gand ferry<strong>in</strong>g people across rivers <strong>in</strong> small boats. Their caste means that they generallylive on marg<strong>in</strong>al land close <strong>to</strong> large rivers– thus spatial poverty is, <strong>in</strong> their case, effectivelycaste-<strong>in</strong>duced.Manomaya Majhi is about 50 years old, and is married <strong>to</strong> Gore Majhi. He is her secondhusband – the first died, without them hav<strong>in</strong>g any children. The couple lives <strong>in</strong> a smallone-roomed house close <strong>to</strong> the Tama Koshi (a major river). They used <strong>to</strong> possess somekhet land, but it was swept away by the river dur<strong>in</strong>g one monsoon. The construction of asuspension bridge across the river means that there is no longer any ferry work. Of theirsix children, three died at their quite young age. The other three (two daughters and ason) have all migrated <strong>to</strong> Kathmandu, where they work for hours as unskilled labourers,ma<strong>in</strong>ly <strong>in</strong> brick fac<strong>to</strong>ries (still earn<strong>in</strong>g more than they could make locally). Their son isliv<strong>in</strong>g with a woman, but has not married her due <strong>to</strong> <strong>in</strong>sufficient money. The girls havemarried, and have five children, all girls, between them. Manomaya and Gore had <strong>to</strong> takea loan at the local <strong>in</strong>terest rate Rs 400 per month for each 10,000 (48% per annum) <strong>to</strong>cover the marriage and other costs, which they are still repay<strong>in</strong>g. Gore is thus often away<strong>in</strong> Kathmandu, seek<strong>in</strong>g work. He himself has had four wives; the first three all left him ashe was away earn<strong>in</strong>g money, and they found other husbands. There was one son fromGore’s first marriage, but he died at the age of 21, leav<strong>in</strong>g a widow and two children, ofwhom one also died. The other now works <strong>in</strong> a tea stall <strong>in</strong> Kathmandu.Manomaya has thus lived through the death of one husband, three children, one stepchild,and one grand-child, plus the loss of the family land. She also experiences theeffective loss of her surviv<strong>in</strong>g three children, step-child and grand-children, whom sherarely sees. She jokes that she stayed with Gore through lack of alternatives – but she alsocompla<strong>in</strong>s that she feels alone.Accord<strong>in</strong>g <strong>to</strong> the new GoN Community Forestry Guidel<strong>in</strong>es (2008), allCFUGs are expected <strong>to</strong> conduct well-be<strong>in</strong>g rank<strong>in</strong>g when develop<strong>in</strong>g orrenew<strong>in</strong>g their Operational Plans.7Probably <strong>in</strong>fluenced by the activities of SDC’s health project.71